What if Sam was right?
by thegirlfromwonderland
Summary: Months after Libertalia, before epilogue. What if Sam's story about Alcazar was true? How would that affect the lives of Nate and his friends? Expect a trouble after another trouble. This is pretty dark fic, so it might upset somebody, but please give it a try. Includes some (a lot) hurt!nate. Rated T for violence, injuries, blood and swearing. Reviews are appreciated! REWRITTEN
1. Chapter 1 - Fight

**Hiii yeah it's me :D I wanted to rewrite this story because honestly I was not proud of this, it was my first fanfic and all so yeah.. (I had posted this like 7 chapters but since i'm rewriting, I deleted the whole thing now but don't worry, I will finish this. I also want to write like from someone's POV soo here it is, but anyway, R &R!**

 **Thanks for checking this up!**

Nate's POV

"So, what do you say, chicken? Is it a bet?" Nate smirked.

It had been five months since Nathan, Sam, Elena and Sully escaped from Libertalia, five months since Sam had to start the hiding again, five months since he moved in.

Nathan didn't have anything against his brother, of course. He was willing to help, willing to protect him the best he could. That's what brothers do, right? Not that he wouldn't have experience with this stuff, Nate does have a brother. Had had his entire life, actually. Maybe he forgot how to do this?

They has this brand new house, which was _'too goddamn far away from the city'_ as Sully had said. Elena liked it though, so Nathan was willing to move away, for her. This was the real life. She wanted their children to grow up in a quiet environment, in which Nate couldn't disagree. They both had had their own must-haves. Nate wanted a house which was close to the beach so he could go diving whenever he wanted to or, who knows, if he started to sail. Elena had insisted him buying the one with the seperate cabin outside. When Elena had warned him about the pregnancy hormones, he simply had agreed to it. He could hide out there if things got messy. That part Nate didn't tell her, of course, he had told her that it would be a great place to work.

Nate noticed Sam sitting across the room on the couch, watching as Nathan talked with Elena at the kichen's door. Sully was talking to him, but Sam wasn't propably even listening. He just stared. There had been something weird of him since Libertalia. Maybe that's was the reason Nate found it so hard to be a brother in need or to simply relax and enjoy their 'normal' life. To be honest, none of this was normal, unless 'normal' means hiding and fearing for their death. Nate glanced back to the living room and met his gaze. Sam had that distant look on his face again. The one Nate couldn't properly read. _Yeah_ , there was definitely something weird about him.

Nate winced as Elena poked him with the tv remote in her hand.

"Where are you?" she asked smiling softly and stroked his cheek with her palm. Nate crossed his hands and looked back to her but didn't quite meet her gaze. He knew this sounded crazy. _He knew that_. He opened his mouth to speak but got interrupted, when Sam walked suddenly in the kitchen, towards the refriderator, patting Nate's shoulder on the way.

"Hey, little brother. You don't mind, right?" He smirked pointing at the beer he picked from the fridge.

"Sam, that's like a third-"

"Yeah, thanks Nathan!" Sam exclaimed and started walking back into the living room, but was stopped by Nate, who grabbed his brother's arm tightly and pulled him back in the kitchen.

"Just hold on, Sam. You're endless drinking will impoverish us before you even get drunk enough for your taste"

Anyone who told Nathan at this point, that he was being ridicilous, was right. He knew that, but he couldn't help it. Every little thing Sam did, was making him nervous. He didn't need him getting drunk and doing what-on-earth he could do to endanger all of their lives, especially since they would be having a new family member in six months. A number of doubts entered his mind, what if he went after the treasure? What if he went missing? What if Alcazar showed up when he's drunk? Nate tried to shake the thoughts away from his head, without success. Nate wanted to fully trust him, he _really_ did. Wouldn't it be understadable to have a little trust issues after what happened? Sam's eyes darkened and he opened his mouth to speak. _Here we go again._

"Don't start that again, please-"

"You're the one who's starting anything here!" Nathan replied a little louder than needed, and snatched the beer from his hand.

"Come on, little brother-"

"No, don't 'little brother' me, Sam." Nate waved his finger in front of his face and brought it to Sam's chest. "You promised to-"

"Boys, time out"

Both Drake brothers went silent and turned to see the source of the voice. Elena stood there arms crossed against her chest, frustration shining from her face.

"Now, come on", Elena walked into the living room and grabbed her camera from the edge of the bookshelf. "I want to take at least one decent photo of us" Elena laughed, "you know, before I look like a whale"

"I think you might be overreacting a little there" Nate chuckled walking after her.

"Have you seen a very pregnant lady, Nate?"

"Umm.. no. But I'm sure they're not like whales"

"You'll see"

Nathan glanced back to Elena. She wasn't even showing that much yet, it had been only three months. He didn't believe she could even become very big since she was already so tiny. Plus it would be only like six months more. Two times bigger than her belly was now, right? To be honest, Nate knew nothing about pregnancy or pregnant ladies. He didn't have the experience, neither did she. Were they ready for this? Does parents need to be more ready than they were at this point?

After the photo, Sully patted Nate's shoulder as he lighted a cigar.

"Remember to stay away from Elena, old man" Nate chuckled and poked him with his elbow. "We don't want a kid with two heads and three arms"

"Right" Sully smiled to him, extinguished the cigar and putted it back to his pocket. "Gonna light this beauty outside then"

"Thanks Sully" Nate exclaimed, patted sully on his shoulder and started walking back to Elena.

"Oh, and kid?" Sully started and waved to Sam, who approached to them

"Yeah?"

"You two really need to work your shit out. This is painful to the rest of us too, you know"

Nate sighed and glanced at Sam, who looked strangely entertained about the situation. "Sully, look. It's not my fault that Sam has some crazy issues with me and-"

"Oh shut up Nathan!" Sam snapped in a sharp tone. "It is your fault, actually. It is your fault that the damn treasure is still under of the _goddamn_ mountain, it's your fault that I still have Alcazar's nose on my neck. It is your fault that I have to live with my little brother, to hide out here and not to be able to live on my own. And who the fuck you think you are to tell me what to do with-"

"What? I had to get you out of there! I saved your sorry ass. You would've been killed if it wasn't for me, is that what you want?"

"It's not what I said-"

"Enough!" Elena snapped and pulled Nate farther away from Sam, "Both of you, you're acting like children here"

Nathan quickly pulled his hand away from Elena's and turned to face her. He needed to calm down before he did something stupid. "Seriously, you're siding with him again?"

"No, I'm not. Nate-"

"You know what? Just forget it" He threw a hand over his head, walking away from the room.

Nate went to lie down to their big double bed and covered his face with his hands. He had to take Sam out of there, right? They didn't have the time to grab any treasure with them, right? Should they have had to go back to the treasure anyway? Like, it was just laying there. Had there been enough time?

That was the question that had haunted him for five months. Of course he didn't admit it to anyone, but the truth was, he did blame himself. They could've gone back. They could go right now. Sure, there would be some digging and all since the cave collapsed after them but the treasure would be somewhere under those rocks, millions of gold right there. It's not like if the gold would just… _atomize._

At these thoughts, Nate fell asleep.

It was bright. It was so bright, Nate had to cover his eyes before opening them. There hadn't been a night this bright for a long time. When he finally looked around, he surprised how easily he could see around the room, even though the nights were usually pretty dark. The moonlight created shadows on the walls and made the view unrealistic.

He reached to his left for Elena and felt disappointed as he felt cold sheets under his fingers. He grasped the blanket. Elena was sleeping on the coutch again. She shouldn't do that. If she didn't want to come to bed, he should be the one on the coutch. Nate slowly sit up rubbing his eyes clear. The night was quiet, _strangely quiet even_. Usually there were more traffic sounds, wind, birds or something. It was just quiet. Quiet, until Nate heard a approaching sound, every second a little louder. _Beeping_. It sounded like beeping. He turned around to look for his alarm clock, but then remembered it being broken.

Suddenly something flew inside of the open window. Nate was too familiar of the sight, but before he could react in any way, the room exploded.

 _Jinxed it._


	2. Chapter 2 - The Silence

**A/N: Hi, again! Here's another chapter of What if Sam was right, please read and review, more notes at the end of the chapter.**

Nate's POV

Nathan Drake liked a silence. It wouldn't be obvious to a man like him, it came as a surprise even to Sully only few years back. But he did. Sometimes he would hide to read his journals or sketch in the outdoor cottage, where it would be quiet. The cottage was a good idea, Elena had been right. All the firefights and explosions always made his ears buzz like hell, which wasn't a nice feeling. So, he didn't mind a silence time to time.

But this silence bothered him. It was so quiet, that he could hear the blood pumping through his veins. _So quiet_. Why was the silence bothering him this time? He remembered the night before when he woke up in a silence. The moon was up, creating the shadows all over the room. That was peaceful silence. Elena hadn't been there.

"lena"

Why he couldn't speak? He felt something warm in his mouth, starting to dripp to his cheek. This had happened to him before. He propably had sleep paralysis again. He had this once before, but that was quite some time ago. It would pass, wouldn't it? Nate waited awhile until he felt something on his arm. He tried to lift it in front of his face to see what it is but it didn't move. His mouth tasted like blood.

 _Why?_

That's when Nate realized his eyes were closed.

 _Yeah, definitely the sleep paralysis. Just gotta wait it to pass._

His hand started tingle and bother him more. He tried to lift it again but it felt like something was holding it back somehow. How is that even possible? _Was he handcuffed? No no, no way. What was it then?_ He tried to slide the arm, when he felt sharp, burning pain going through his shoulder to his side. _What a hell?_

His memory started to come back to him. _A bomb_. There had definitely been some kind of bomb. Maybe a grenade. Now he remembered getting up, seeing the thing flying through the window inside their bedroom. He wondered was he injured somehow, but just didn't notice it yet. Where the hell was Elena?

In those thoughts, he finally opened his eyes just to see a leaf. _A leaf?_ Right in front of his face, there was beautiful green leaves. He realized that he was outside. How did he get there? He just was inside the bedroom, then there was a explosion-

"NATE"

A loud scream interrupted his thoughts. A woman's scream. Nate slowly started to turn his head to the right, inch by inch. Every inch shooted awfully down his spine and all the way to his toes, where it shooted back with even stronger force. His heart fell to his stomach as he saw their bedroom, in their new lovely house, ripped in half, Elena's drawer on the ground beside him. There was a picture of him and Elena on the drawer. Where was it now?

Nate felt something strange on his abdomen, just next to his naval. He moved his other hand, but was surprised when he felt only a cold metal. It was sharp and wet from something. He grabbed it between his fingers, just to feel the sharp pain going through his abdomen. He gasped in pain, but was followed by a weak cough, which made the pain even worse. His vision started to blurr and the screaming was fading farther from him.

Suddenly there was someone holding his head, forcing him to look to the person. He saw the person's mouth move but he no longer heard anything. The silence was back, the unconfortable silence, the one he couldn't get rid off. He had to think for a few seconds before recognizing the person to be Elena. She had a terrified look on her face and he couldn't understand why. He followed her gaze to his abdomen where the weird metal thing was. That was their lampstand. _He was pierced with a lampstand_. She pulled her hand back to take out her phone and called someone. Nate noticed her hands were bloody. They were soaking wet with it, actually. Was he really bleeding that bad? Elena's mouth was moving and her eyes looked red and swollen. She was crying. She grabbed his hand in her own and gave him a tiny squeeze, propably afraid of hurting him more. Nate tried to squeeze back, but judging by her face, it didn't work. She looked panicked back and forth his hand and eyes. Nate's heart ached to see her like that, unable to help her. He wanted to tell her everything would be okay. He wanted to hold her in his arms and stroke her back while she cried. _He couldn't move._

"Elena"

He wasn't sure if anything came out, but Elena turned back to him as soon as he opened his mouth. She gave him a little smile, full of pain and fear. She said something and slowly ran her fingers through his hair.

He began to feel tired. He decided to close his eyes for a minute, just to gather some strenght. His resting didn't last for long, when he felt someone grabbing his face and gently trying to shake him awake. He didn't want to open his eyes, so he decided to ignore the person in front of him. Now she was slapping his cheeck gently, it didn't bother him that much so he tried to let it be, but she kept just going. Nate forced himself to open his eyes. They fluttered slowly back open, but he couldn't tell if they were actually open, because now he couldn't see. His vision was blurring and his head spinning.

Then the darkness overcame and Nate slowly sinked to the silence, _again_.

A **/N: So this was just kind of a drabble about how Nate feels after the explosion, I didn't really plan it but I just went along haha :D Thanks so much for reading and please review if you're even slightly interested in this story, they would be really really appreciatedand they motivate me to write if I know there's** **someone wanting to read it. Thanks!**


	3. Chapter 3 - Where am I?

**Hello again, sorry for the break. I've had a lot of schoolwork to do since the tests are coming and all so.. Sorry for that. Anyway, I'm here now with a new chapter. This one is a bit shorter than usual, because I felt like this was a good spot to stop. There's gonna be propably a lot of unnecessary narrating, forgive me. Also, I want to thank all the reviews/followers/favourites so much** **! baumka41, WWWDawtCom, sin97, deangirl83, Lbozzie, LittleSlytherin394 and willoffire123** **, thank you! Buuut, enough with the talking and here's the chapter!**

Nate's POV

(5 weeks later)

Nathan woke up to the sound of people talking. Talking, right next to him. He kept his eyes closed, in case of anything good came up what the people wouldn't want him to hear. He had learned to do that only few years back when Elena had been the one 'sleeping', she had been unconcious though.. She had told him about her faking it for a while. It made sense, then she could have heard him crying and that's how she knew. It made sense.

Unfortunately for Nate, these people quickly walked farther away, just out of reach of his hearing. Nate shrugged in his mind fro the missed opportunity and quickly opened his eyes to see a white roof. Their bedroom didn't have that white roof. Where the hell was he? He moved his gaze quickly around the bald room, over the 'get well' and 'we love you' balloons that were floating next to the door, which was, surprisingly, as white as the roof. Nate looked over to the only tiny window in the corner of the room, where the last light beams from the orange sunset shone inside through the blinds. Sunset looked orange. Like a fall's orange. It wasn't fall yet, right? It was so orange it hurted his eyes for a bit. Nate brought his hand to wipe off some sweat from his temple, but soon noticed that there was a small tube going through his skin.

He noticed someone standing next to his bed, touching slightly his arm. He quickly felt a pinch and some burning in his hand. He winced to it and almost started to fight back, confused of his surroundings. It was always fight or flight. This time the fight kicked in faster and he started to pull away from the person, panic shining from his eyes.

"Mr. Drake? Oh my god.."

Nate continued to fight the girl and succeed to push her away from him, who fell to the floor, dropping something jingling with her. In a second there was two other people, both men. The other one stayed at the door and helped the girl get up while the other walked towards Nate. He quickly searched the room for any weapons, but it all blank. The man approached Nate, but as soon as he was close enough, Nate's fist met the man's nose. He stumbled backwards holding his nose and then they were all yelling something to… each other? Nate? He wasn't listning anyway, enemy was an enemy.

"Mr. drake stop, we're here to help!"

Why was the enemy trying to appease him? For distraction maybe? Nate's fear grew bigger as the other guy walked next to the other and they pinned his back against his bed. Now Nate was fighting for his life, struggling to free himself without success.

"Mr. Drake, you're tearing your stitches!"

"Sedate him, _now_!"

The girl came back with a sharp object in her hands. That was a needle. _A big needle_. Nate swallowed thickly and kicked one of the men. What a hell was going on? Was this another crazy black ops –shit? Nathan managed to pull one last punch to one of the guys before his hands were held back. In a second Nate felt another sharp pinch at his neck and then his muscles relaxed completely against his will. This crossed Nate's line of calm. A high beeping alarm filled the room as Nate started hyperventilating. He was now covered in cold sweat, blood soaking his shirt aroud his stomach, unable to breathe properly.

"Put him under, he's going into cardiac arrhythmia! _Mr. Drake_!"

Then a white mask covered his mouth and nose.

 **Sorry for a bit short chapter, I'm going to post chapter 4 ASAP**


	4. Chapter 4 - Hope

**Hi! Sorry for the break, I've had a lot of stuff to do so I didn't have time to write. I finally finished this chapter (at 12 A.M) so I'm sorry if there's mistakes. Not a native speaker anyway. I also want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter, honestly I love you. Hopefully you find this chapter interesting and please read and review, they really keep me going!**

"Okay, sit down for me, please", a young OB/GYN smiled.

Elena sat on the examination table after changing to the hospital robe. It felt dull and rough against her skin as it slid over her belly. Elena threw her head back, leaning it against her seat, repeating the same matra over and over again in her head. _It would be okay, everything's fine, relax._ Nate was better at convincing her about this stuff. He knew what to say and never repeated himself. There wasn't a need to. He had made Elena calm earlier, but he wasn't there now.

"This is gonna feel a bit cold"

Elena closed her eyes as the single tear slid down her cheek. Did she even know what she was doing? Propably not. She must have been on her late 20s, tops. Elena worried if she was even educated enough to check on her. She didn't need another source of worry on the top of everything else in her life at the moment. She didn't want to think about that too. Elena shut her eyes tightly as the cold gel was spreaded across her belly when the she slid an ultrasonic device over it. The room was very quiet for a long time and Elena had the time to be afraid of the worst, just like she had imagined, until a rapid sound of a hearbeat filled the room.

Elena sighed from relief.

"There's her hearbeat", the gyn chuckled to her and paused the picture.

"It's strong, right?", Elena asked her voice full of concern, tears glistening in her eyes, "it's going to make it?"

"She", the gyn smiled, "it's a she. And yes, you have nothing to worry about. She's a healthy baby"

Elena looked back at the monitor as the tears fell down her cheeks. _Relief._

Ever since Nate's 'accident', the baby had stopped kicking. Elena had been sick of worry, which propably wasn't helping the baby's or herself's condition. She had been too afraid to go to get checked out for a long time, but was finally forced to go by Sam. He had told her that he wouldn't be the blame then if there actually was something wrong. So she went, there wasn't a possibility to win Sam in an argument.

Sam and Sully had been visiting Elena every single day, helping her to fix the damage. The house was practically split in half from where was the burned, damaged area and where not. They were rebuilding it again by themselves.

"You can get dressed now"

Elena sat back up, opened the loose ponytail she was wearing and ran a hand through her hair. Time to head back home.

It didn't feel like home anymore. Home was where Nate was, and he certainly wasn't there anymore. He was home. Now it was just a house where she happened to sleep in. The house, where she had lost her husband. She talked about losing in this case. Surely there must've been people around the world who'd be thankful for the her situation, her husband wasn't dead.

But he would never wake up.

Elena had read an article about injuries caused by explosions. The consequences to those were severe, most likely causing death sooner or later. She had learned from Nate's doctor, that her husband wasn't only in a coma, he wouldn't probably ever wake up. Other than that, his injuries weren't supporting him; pierced through the abdomen, broken arm, severe burn injuries all over his body and a blast injury to the brain. Elena had learned blast injuries were classified to three sections; primary, secondary and tertiary injuries. Nate had all of those three types, which basically meant he had had the worst luck with it. He had burns, crush injuries, some respiratory injuries to his lungs and the brain injury from the blast, since he was right next to the grenade. That had put him in the coma. Referring to statistics, the doctors had been honest with her, he was most likely dying. Elena kept him in life support, unable to let go. _He would never wake up._

Then she got the call.

His husband was awake.

 _Four weeks earlier_

 _Elena sat on the side of his bed, talking about her day as usual. She didn't know if he even was able to hear her, but she liked to think so. The thought about a coma without any thoughts or hearing was depressing, she didn't want to think about it. She liked to think that Nate could hear her._

 _It had been four weeks since she had seen those blue eyes look at her._

 _She missed the look when he looks at her. She missed the love in his eyes when he tells her he loves her. She missed the look on his face when they made love. She missed him. She missed everything about him, his smart-ass comments about everything, his laugh, his smile, the way he kisses her, his warm body, his strong arms, the way he holds her in them. She missed him._

 _Elena smoothed his hair back with her other hand while the other held his hand._

 _"I love you", she whispered to his ear as she stroked his raising and falling chest, reminding herself he was still physically alive, even if a machine was breathing for him. It hurted her to see Nate, her Nate, so weak and vulnerable, unable to communicate. He had a tube going down his throat. He was attached to an IV and some other wires and tubes that she couldn't remeber the name of. It hurted her. Physically._

 _She placed a small kiss on his temple and smiled to him. He couldn't see it, she knew that. Elena wiped her tearful eyes and squeezed his hand firmly. She turned around to see Sam standing at the door._

 _"Can I speak with him for a moment?"_

 _Sam thought like her too, then._

 _"Of course, I'll wait in the lobby"_

 _Sam walked to his little brother and pulled a chair next to his bed. He felt awful. Sam had always hated hospitals. The white walls and the beeping machines made him uncomfortable. He had hoped after their mother's death that he wouldn't have to come to another hospital ever again. Now his baby brother was the one on the bed._

 _Who would've thunk this would happen? What if he was in pain? Sam bit his tongue until he tasted the metal and reached for his hand. It was all his fault._

 _"It's okay, little brother", he mumbled quietly, lowering his head, "I'm so sorry for blaming you about everything. You were right, okay? It's all my fault". He looked up again, hoping to see him looking back but was disappointed when he was met with Nate's still, pale but peaceful form._

 _"I… I didn't mean to make this happen. And I am so sorry.. But Nathan, you can go now, okay?", he whispered in almost inaudible, breaking voice. "Don't hang around for us. I'll take care of Elena and the baby for you, okay? We'll be fine. You can go.."_

 _Tears were now sliding down his cheeks._

 _"You should see her, she's doing great. You'd be proud of her". Sam exhaled shakely. "I'm proud. I'm proud of you, Nathan"_

 _He stood up and patted Nate on his chest._

 _"We came far, Nathan. You did good...", he sighned wistfully and leaned closer, "Goodbye, little brother. Meet me in paradise, okay?"_

Elena felt numb. She was expecting to feel joy or exitement, but she didn't feel anything. She hadn't decided if she liked the numbness or not, but she felt like it didn't matter. Nothing mattered.

Elena walked through the hospital halls in a complete trance. She didn't see the man who walked past her, greeting her with a big smile. She didn't notice the woman, who had broken down on the floor, crying, as a doctor was trying to comfront her. Someone had died, probably. She walked the hospital halls, which had became too familiar to her. She knew the way by heart. She didn't have to think as she hurried in the elevator and pressed the button to the third floor.

She almost ran to his room when she saw the door. The numbness was replaced with pure fear. Fear for what was on the other side of the door. Fear for a false alarm.

When she busted through the door, she saw his husband's figure, still unmoving, very much coma-like. He didn't have the breathing tube.

"I thought you said he woke up", Elena heard herself whispering. She stared at the doctor checking his vitals, how uncomfortable his face turned by her comment.

"Well.. He did".

"Did?"

"He woke up about an hour ago"

Elena watched as the doctor continued his examination. He pulled his eyelids open and flashed a flashlight back and forth in front of his eyes.

"He woke up, but didn't seem to know where he was and despite the reassurance", he stroked at his jawbow and looked up at Elena, "he became violent. We had to sedate him"

Elena frowned at him. "Sedative doesn't put people under"

He shook his head, "no, it doesn't, we had to put him back under and intubate because his panic attack was causing him cardiac arrhythmia"

Elena's eyes widened and her heart dropped to her stomach. "cardiac what?"

"Cardiac arrhythmia. It's a state where the heart is bumping too fast and could lead to cardiac arrest– heart attack, in bad cases. We didn't want to take that risk, since he is very unstable right now"

"He had a panic attack?"

"Probably caused by the confusion and the sedative, because the he lost his ability to move. It's not the first time this has happened to a patient"

Elena stroked his husband's cheek carefully. It was good to see him without the tube. Now she was afraid he would go back into the coma"

"Is it possible, that he could go back to the coma now? Did he say anything?", Elena pleaded. Her eyes were starting to dampen to the thought of Nate suffering.

"It's possible, but not very likely, because he's breathing on his own now", he flashed a smile and tugged his hand in his coat's pockets, "But I don't want to get your hopes too high, because we don't know about his brain function, is he able to speak, for example"

Elena begun to feel lightheaded. She rubbed his temples, trying to understand the situation.

"We don't know if there's any permanent brain damage yet", he continued, "The drug should be wearing off soon, though"

Elena sat down on his bed and continued stroking his hair.

"Thank you", she mumbled, not facing the doctor anymore, but focusing on Nate. He should be waking up soon. _It had been four weeks._


	5. Chapter 5 - Waking up

**First of all, sorry for the break. I've had an insane month and I didn't have time to write. Second of all, I've had a few reviews about the grammar or other word mistakes in the chapters and I apologize.. I usually finish the chapters at night when I feel the most inspired (but also tired) so I make mistakes. Anyway, sorry for those, mistakes happen, you don't need to tell me where I got wrong :D this chapter is a bit slower? Or you know what I mean. I was planning on adding the other part to this but I felt like it beguns a new thing in the story so I decided to cut it here. Again, I wrote this pretty late and you seriously don't have to tell me if/when there's mistakes, I'm sorry (and ashamed..).**

 **I want to thank you all that has reviewed this story, but especially Nat'amazed for such a thoughtful and inspiring comments, thanks! Those are my favorites!**

 **Enjoy the chapter and remeber to favorite, follow and review!**

First thing he felt was the sharp smell of disinfectant. The strong scent floated through his nostrips and made him nauseas. This was a number one thing he hated about the hospitals. That awful smell everywhere.

Despiting the discomfort, Nate fluttered his eyelids open with a big effort. He felt foggy and the room was spinning around. He frowned and moved his right hand in front of his face, covering his eyes from the bright hospital lights. Lights, definitely a number two. Once his eyes got used to the new lightning, he moved his gaze to his side and recognized the woman sitting by his bed, reading some kind of Magazine. His wife.

Where was he? More importantly, why was his wife in this strange place?

She didn't seem to notice his movements yet, so he decided to take advantage of the situation and scanned the room again. It was hard to focus on a one spot more than three seconds which made the task more difficult. He tried to focus his eyes on a small black bow on the wall. It had some tiny buttons on the right and a screen in the middle. A television playing some Friends rerun.

Nate frowned and slowly shifted in his bed, not wanting her noticing just yeat. He wanted to come clear of his surroundings first. It was confusing.

Then it hit him like a truck. He was in a hospital.

She moved in her chair which made Nate think she had noticed him. He decided to greet her.

"H…"

Nate was startled about the weak effort of speaking. Did that really come out of his mouth? He grunted in pain with his eyes closed as he lifted himself but exhaled and gave up after a second. He didn't have the strenght. Fortunately, she had noticed the sudden movements and dropped the magazine immediately. She brought both of her hands to his face.

"Nate? Oh my god, Nate!" She managed to whisper more to herself, trying to feel her husband, was he really there this time. She carefully ran her fingers through his dirty hair and smiled as she saw his eyes open again. Her smile fell quickly when she saw his eyes unfocused, panicked and his chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Nate, what hurts? Can you talk to me? Please? Nate!" She asked in a panic. "Are you having another panic attack?"

Nate began to open and close his mouth, attempting to talk, but his wife had already ran to the hall, screaming for help. He closed his eyes, trying to calm his breathing, hoping that the sudden pain would go away. He didn't mean to scare her like that.

"I don't know what's wrong with him!" she cried to a male doctor who ran towards her from the hall.

"What happened?"

"I don't know!" she repeated, "he woke up and then he started to panic, is this another panic attack? Is he in pain?" She continued walking beside the doctor as they entered Nate's room. She immediately ran back to his bed and started stroking his head. The doctor stepped in, pulling her away from the bed.

"What are you-"

"Just let me look at him" He reasoned and moved her beside him before getting back to Nate's bedside. He placed his hands on Nate's shoulders and tried to hold him in place.

"Nathan? I'm Doctor Stevens, I need you to stay still for me, okay?" Dr. Stevens mouthed clearly and reached for his pen light from his front pocket. He held Nate down with his elbow and checked his pupils. The doctor half ran to the other side of Nate's bed, examined his vitals and quickly worte them down on his chart.

She was back at Nate's side fully crying, whispering comforting things to his ear. She wasn't even sure if it was understandable since her voice was more like a choked cry.

"Nathan, I'm going to add more morphine to your I.V" Nate heard the doctor saying. He tried deep breaths, but every time exhaling, he felt the same sharp pain to sting at his abdomen. He felt her hand in his own, squeezing it gently. He had his eyes closed tightly and he felt his heart break from the weak cries his wife made next to him. He wanted to make things better for her, not worse.

"It's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay" she kept whispering. She placed her head on top of their hands.

Soon Nate felt the worst pain fading further away and it made easier to him to relax a bit. He took a deep breath. And another.

"That's right, slow deep breaths", Dr. Stevens praised, patting him on the shoulder. Nate took a few more before slowly opening his eyes, which were met with her swollen, red ones. He swallowed thickly and squeezed her hand, which brought a small smile to her face.

"Nate?"

"Hi", Nate whispered

"Hi", She bit her lower lip trying to control it from shaking, wide smile on her face. "Oh god, hi"

He didn't have time reply until she had leaned closer to his face and pressed her lips gently on his. It was slow and gentle, he closed his eyes as felt her mouth open just enough for him to push his tongue past her soft lips. Nate moved his hand to the back of her neck and placed one more gentle kiss before swiping a single strand of hair behing her ear. She sit back on her chair, never letting go of his hand.

"Okay", Dr. Stevens smiled. "Now if you could answer a few questions, we could continue talking about your recovery"

Nate moved his gaze from his beautiful wife to the doctor and nodded sighing. "Okay"

"Thanks" he nodded and opened his chart. "Can you tell me your name? Do you know where you are?"

Nate sighed throwing his head back. "Nathan Drake, I'm most likely in a hospital"

"What's her name?", Dr. Stevens asked nodding to her direction.

That's when Nate's face freezed. He knew her. He knew she was his wife. They were married. They were having a baby. He _loved_ her. He knew her name. "Uhh.."

"Nate?" She asked worriedly, "You know my name".

Nate's mind was blank. Her comment was more of a fact than a question but anything didn't come up. _He knew her_.

"I know you", he heard himself saying. He moved his gaze from the doctor to her, if her face would knock something into it's place in his head. "I… I know you" he repeated more to himself this time.

"You don't remember her name?" the doctor asked curiously writing something down on the chart.

"I do" Nate chuckled nervously and shot a glare to him, "She's my wife"

Dr. Stevens looked back up from the chart and frowned. "But I asked what's her name"

"It's… uh.."

"Nate" she squeezed his hand tightly, "what's my name?"

Nathan moved his gaze slowly back to her, afraid to see the look on her face. "I.."

"Maybe we should take a break" Dr. Stevens suggested closing the chart and dropping it on the desk, "Okay?"

"No! You know my name!" She quickly stepped up, letting go of his hand, "What's my name, Nate? What else you don't remember?"

Nate winced and dropped his gaze to his own hands, which were now gently ripping the edge of the blanket, "I think I want a break" he quietly muttered.

A few days later Nate was sitting on his bed, sketching something into his journal which Elena had brought to him from home. There wasn't much to do in the hospital. There probably wasn't much to do in hospitals in general, he thought. So sketching was his one hobby he hadn't already got tired of. He had pretty much read all the interenting magazines from the lobby already, if you can say 'interesting' about any of the hospital's magazines. They were like three years old each.

Once Sully and Sam heard that Nate had woke up, they had wanted to visit every day. They had brought flowers, and most importantly, some decent food to him. Not that he wouldn't enjoy the company, he loved those two son-of-a-bitches, but he had cut all the visits short. Nate was uncomfortable with the idea of not knowing. He avoided conversations with them. He didn't like the pity.

Most importantly, he avoided Elena. He felt so guilty about the other day, and he didn't want that scenario to repeat with anything else. He couldn't forget the look on her face that day. Elena had tried to be there for him the best she could, but Nate stayed absent. He knew it wasn't fair for her. He knew she had been patient when he was in the coma. He knew she needed support on her own more than ever. Still, he couldn't do it. Dr. Stevens had brought in some hospital psychologist earlier that day, but Nate had immediately sent her away. He didn't need a psychologist.

He needed Elena.

Now that she was gone, Nate saw that. He missed her more than anything most of the time, but every time when she was on her way to visit, he made up an excuse. A CT scan, a psychologist's appointment, sleeping. The list was long. Nate had remembered Elena's name two days ago. They were't telling him anything what he couldn't remember. They wanted to see if he would remember on his own first. It annoyed him.

Nate slammed his book closed and swiped a hand over his face. "What am I doing..", he muttered shaking his head and grabbing his phone from the table. He dialed Elena's number.

"Come on… Pick up, pick up.." he muttered biting his lip.

 _"Elena Fisher"_

Nate's heart bursted with joy when he heard her voice from the phone. "Hey, it's me"

 _"Nate? Are you okay?"_

"Yeah, yeah.." he reassured her scratching his head, "Just, you know, I miss you". Nate bit his lip again when he didn't hear her answer. "You there?"

 _"Yeah"_ he heard her sniff, _"I'm here, Nate"_

"You... You wanna come over for a while?" Nate asked hopefully.

 _"You want me there?"_

That sentence broke him. She thought he didn't want her anymore. "Elena.. Nothing is changed. I love y-"

 _"Nate, someone's here!"_ he heard suddenly panicky whisper from the other line. His heart dropped to his stomach.

"What, who?"

 _"I don't know, he's… he's got a gun, oh god.."_

"Elena"  
 _"Please don't!"_

"Elena!"

 _"No, no, please! I-"_

Nate stared at his phone in disbelief. His hand was shaking and he accidentally dropped the phone. Nate didn't think a second before pulling the IV out of his hand and standing up staggering. He took a deep breath when the room started spinning. Good thing he was still on the meds. He quickly dressed a bit more comfortably than a hospital robe and left his room

 **Okay, I think it's good to cut here since it's almost 2k words at this oops! Maybe this is my apology for being away for so long. Anyway, thank you so much for reading and please review so I get inspiration to write more!**


	6. Chapter 6 - Home?

**There's some delicious hurt!Nate which I personally love (is it weird?) and there's gonna come even more later. But yay, a new update so quickly after the last one! Sorry about the mistakes if there are some, it's literally like 5AM here when I finished this because I just wanted to finish this chapter :D Enjoy!**

Nathan stood in front of the wooden house surrounded by palm trees. He took a deep breath as he took a few steps forward. He didn't want to think what might be waiting inside. The beach sand gave up a little under his feet, which made the house a little more difficult to approach for the injured man. Normally walking in a sand wasn't a hard task to Nathan Drake, but now he slowly struggled his way to the front door. Normally he didn't find anything related to walking, jumping and running, hard, but it was understandable for a man who had spent his last month in a coma. Suddenly Nate stopped as he smelled the strong scent floating around. Gunpowder. The smell he was too familiar with. The smell, which did not belong to their home.

His stomach twisted when he saw the front door to be left open. As he stepped inside, he almost tripped on the dining chair that was lying in front of the door. Nate knew they could make a mess. Hell, he knew Elena was a messy person, but even she wasn't _that_ messy. So he stood in the middle of the living room for a while, staring at the disaster in front of his eyes. The television had fallen forward and it was buzzing slightly, tiny sparks of electricity falling to the floor. The coffee table was flipped over between the kitchen counters. All movable goods were all over the place, partly broken.

"Hello?", he tried. No answer. "Damn it..". Nate had a bad feeling. He ran both of his hands over his face all the way up to his hair, pulling it in frustration. "Great, just great…", he muttered angrily to himself. There was nothing he could do at this point. Nate was just about to grab his phone to try to reach Elena, when he heard a door closing upstairs. He wasn't alone after all. He froze and moved his gaze quickly around the room, searching for something that he could use as a weapon if it came to that. He grabbed the first idea in his mind and sneaked into the kitchen to get a knife. It wasn't the best option in a gunfight, but it was the best he could come up at that point.

Nate sneaked his way step by step to upstaird, squeezing the knife in his hand until his knuckles turned white. Why on earth he kept a gun safe in their bedroom. What if the guy found it? They should've known something would happen. Now Elena was gone. He heard a floor creak from the bedroom. Somebody was defitinely there. Nate swallowed hard, took a deep breath and rushed throught the door.

He didn't have time to react before he felt a hard object in the back of his head.

"Get back, you son of a bitch!", he heard a female voice cry in a sharp voice. He felt a blinding pain in his head, which made him to lose his balance for a second. He collapsed on his knees, one hand immediately supporting his pounding head and other on the floor in front of him, trying to keep himself from completely falling. He had dropped his knife somewhere behind him and cursed himself in his mind from not being more careful. Nate cried out inadvertently, moving his other hand from the floor to the other side of his head to hold it when he faced another wave of nausea.

"Oh my god, Nate!?"

Nate forced himself to look up ignoring the pounding and the feeling of throwing up and frowned when he was met with a familiar blonde. "Elena.. wha..", he murmured collapsing lower facing towards the floor, now covering his face with both hands in hopes for the throbbing pain to go away a little faster. Elena was immediately on the floor in front of Nate, holding both of her hands on his shoulders.

"Nate, I'm so sorry! God, are you okay?", she cried in a shaky voice. Nate took one deep, shaky breath before finally rising his head again and locked his eyes with Elena's worried ones.

"God, what did you hit me with?", he tried to chuckle and brought a hand to feel the back of his head. The pain was finally starting to ease.

"Baseball bat", Elena blurted awkwardly while placing a few strands of her bangs behind her ear.

"Well, good girl"

Elena frowned at him and waved her hand in a circle, pointing for him to turn his head, "Here, let me see it". To Elena's surprise he smirked and tilted his head slightly before turning around.

"Oh, how do I know your not gonna strike again?", he joked.

"Not funny", she muttered quietly while examining him.

"So what happened here?"

Elena stopped for a moment, "huh?"

"In case you haven't noticed, the place looks maybe a little messier than normally"

Oh, how she had missed those smartass comments. She smiled by herself and got up to get an ice pack, "what do you think", she sighed turning to face him, "they came"

"What, who?", Nate rised his gaze to Elena, who looked awfully pale all of the sudden. He watched as she opened the bedroom drawer and took some letters from it.

"We've been having some… threats", she admitted, "he wants Sam"

Nate slowly got up himself and walked next to her to inspect them. After reading a few, he turned to Elena, who paced back and forth in front of the window.

"How long have you been having these?"

"I don't know, a few days, I guess"

Those words cut him more than he would've thought. His family was in danger and they haven't said a word about it. They had visited many times and every time they were hiding it. On the other hand, Nate couldn't really blame them. He had been so focused on himself that he hadn't noticed something was off. He had pushed them away. Now he understood why they wanted to come over so often. They were afraid for his sake. Elena fingered her hair elastic around her wrist, watching Nate's reaction for the news. He looked half confused, half hurt, but finally he approached Elena.

"Hey", he said softly cupping her face, "why didn't you tell me?" Elena gave him a sad smile and placed her hand on top of his.

"You've had a lot on your plate"

Nate wiped gently her hair off her face and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Where's Sam?"

Elena let out a deep sigh and bit her lip. "I don't know. He doesn't answer his phone or texts", she said truthfully, "I think they might have taken him. I'm sorry, Nate"

"Was he here with you when the guys came in?"

"Yes"

Nate closed his eyes and thought for a while. Sam was gone. Alcazar's got him. He didn't want to think about what they might do to him. He remembered when Sam once quoted him with 'death is not a mercy I will grant you'. They would probably kill him, but not in the easiest way.

"I gotta go after them", Nate heard himself saying, "I know one of his hide-outs, that's worth checking"

Elena's eyes widened. "No, no, no", she said firmly, "You are in no condition to go after anyone. We should just call the police"

Nate shake his head incessantly, "No"

"But-"

"They'll kill us all then", Nate snapped and started to pack his stuff. He found his gun holster and attached it to his belt. "I need to call Sully and-"

"Nate, stop", Elena pleaded and grabbed Nate's arm, but he wrenched himself free instantly.

"No! I have to!", he suddenly yelled, which made Elena wince. He regretted it immediately. Nate leaned with his hands on the drawer and turned back around to face her. "I'm sorry. This is something I have to do. It's my brother", he continued softly.

"I'm coming with you"

"Not in a million years"

Elena's eyes glistened with tears, which were streaming down her cheeks. "I don't wanna lose you again", she said quetly looking straight into his eyes. Nate felt his heart clentch. He loved her some much. He didn't want to leave her any more than she didn't want him to go. He cupped her face with both of his hands and leaned down to place a light and gentle kiss on her lips. He put his strong arms securely around her, pulling her for a tight hug. Elena reached to wrap her arms around his neck and buried her face into his shoulder.

When they finally pulled away Nate raised Elena's chin gently to look her in the eyes. "Look", he started, "I'll come back", he promised and wiped a tear off her cheek with his thumb. "But if for some reason you won't hear from me, don't come after me", he continued seriously, gently stroking her hair. "Do you understand?" Elena looked him for a while until she lowered her head and placed her hands against his chest. Nate pulled her closer once again and kissed the top of her head. "I love you so much", he whispered into her hair, pulled away and walked out of the door.

"Same to you, cowboy"

 **Wow, the end turned out to be more depressing than I originally thought lol. Hopefully you like it and yay please review and favorite if you haven't already! Love you**


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